Getting to Class on Time
One of the joys of homeschooling is the flexibility it offers.
Sure, schedules need to be followed, but if a great learn-
ing opportunity arises, why not reschedule class around
it? It would be unreasonable to do otherwise. Other-
schooling—which is what I call public, private, and
charter schools collectively (feel free to use it)—cannot
seize such opportunities for individualized learning, but
homeschool can capitalize and flex around them. It’s one
of the great benefits.
What does this teach your kids, though? It teaches
them valuable lessons about what’s important (learning is
a full-time pursuit), it teaches them how to be flexible (an
invaluable skill), and it teaches them that class start times
aren’t authoritative and binding. They learn that class will
start when everyone gets there, and everyone’s ready.
College classes don’t work that way. They can’t work
that way. College classes must abide by a uniform sched-
ule, and the 30 students (or 300) must be ready to start as
scheduled or be left behind. Students accustomed to the
flexibility of homeschooling face a challenge (especially
their freshman year) if they haven’t made a habit of show-
ing up on time, regardless of what happened on the way
to class or the night before.
Planning On Their Own
This is arguably a difficulty for all students, but if students
haven’t been accustomed to thinking through how to
complete a larger paper or research project, they soon
find themselves overwhelmed at college when these are
assigned. If they’re accustomed to having their parents or
co-op instructors plan all of their work for them, they’re
in for a rude awakening when no one is there to lay it out
for them.
(NOTE: By “plan all of their work for them” I’m refer-
ring to the practice of breaking up a large assignment into
smaller parts to give them reasonable goals and deadlines
to reach so that the larger assignment isn’t overwhelming.
Don’t get me wrong, parents need to pass this skill onto
their children and the first step is to show them how to do
it. But if students never have to do it for themselves, they
are at a disadvantage heading into college.)
Apologia has a great resource for planning that helps
students learn how to schedule out a semester while sync-
ing it with our mom’s homeschool planner. The Ultimate
Homeschool Planner even includes guides on how to teach
planning to your children.
Learning in a Classroom Structure
Homeschooling students can experience significant
difficulty with a classroom environment if their previous
learning models have never demanded it. One of my
friends grew up homeschooled on the mission field. His
education happened outdoors or at the dinner table or
in the car driving across open fields. He was extremely
intelligent. Yet when he got to college, he struggled in
class despite high testing scores because he couldn’t focus
while sitting still. He had never learned to sit through a
lecture or take thorough notes while stationary in a chair.
As a result, college posed a challenge his other-schooling
classmates didn’t face.
Homeschooling provides so many opportunities—for
example, apprenticeships and curriculum customized to
individual learning styles—that other-schooled students
can’t access. It’s important, though, for parents to ensure
that students are prepared to thrive (not just survive) in
the lecture format they’ll see in college. Perhaps taking
some community college classes while still at home is a
good option for you. But even if your student isn’t ready
for that, make sure they can learn while sitting at a desk
and taking quality notes while listening to a lecture.
They’ll thank you for it later.
There’s no question that homeschooling is an outstand-
ing choice for many families. The numbers demonstrate
the excellence of this choice in preparing students to
learn for life, thrive at work, and lead in their communi-
ties. But if college is in your children’s future plans, be
sure to prepare them for the structure of college life and
the demands of this educational approach.
Original article published by Apologia Educational Ministries, Inc.
2014 at blog.apologia.com. Reprinted with permission.
Kyle McManamy is a college pastor in Chapel Hill, NC, where he and his wife
make their home. Before joining his church staff full-time, he worked in Apologia’s
marketing department, traveling to conferences, and teaching in homeschool co-
ops. This post is the first in a series called “College Pastor’s Notes” which writes
from the other side of graduation about thriving in faith and life in college.
45